Millinery 101 - Part 2

Today was day number two of my hat class with Master Milliner Wayne Wichern! And what a day!!! First he spray starched our hats so that they would retain their wonderful shapes. The top photo shows my 3 hats to the left, still having their 'ties' on, ready to be sprayed. After spraying we took our hats off their wood blocks and finished the edges, using an industrial sewing machine (talk about FAST!) - it took a bit of practice... Then we added a grosgrain ribbon to the inside, sized to fit our heads. Last we began the process of Embellishment! For my first hat, (black and tobacco) I had originally thought I would sew the two colors together in the middle, to create a taller hat (kind of like you see in its original incarnation) and then handsew the pleats together on one side, like a one-sided accordian. Well, this ended up being too tall for my taste. I cut off one tobacco colored band and sewed it onto the bottom edge, and then freyed both sides of what was left of the tobacco part, twisted it, and made a 'butterfly' embellishment out of it. Voila! so much more interesting, and I really like how the freyed edges look against the finished hat. For my second hat, (cloche in two tones of tan) I simply hand-sewed down an extra pleat to the side, which gave it more shape and added a little more interest.
My last and favorite hat turned out to be a bit of a challange. It become stuck to the form while starched, so when I pulled it off, it turned inside out and had horrible wrinkles all over it! NOT what I had in mind... I re-blocked it, steamed it back into shape, let it dry, and then it came off perfect! I played around with a few different trimmings, knowing I definitely wanted to use a vintage purple straw 'puff' that I've had stashed away for ages. Wayne pulled out some wide black 'horsehair' ribbon and I knew that was it! I bunched it up to one side, making a faux bow of sorts, added my puff on top and it looks splendid! It needs a little 'special something' of a button for the center, but otherwise its quite a statement piece! My husband thinks it would be the perfect hat for Professor McGonagall (of 'Harry Potter') to wear to the beach (with a Victorian bathing suit and black parasol of course!) I think I'll wear it to my parents Golden Wedding Anniversary this June, with a dress rather than a bathing suit, but I kind of like the parasol idea... What do you think???

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Millinery 101 - Part 2

Today was day number two of my hat class with Master Milliner Wayne Wichern! And what a day!!! First he spray starched our hats so that they would retain their wonderful shapes. The top photo shows my 3 hats to the left, still having their 'ties' on, ready to be sprayed. After spraying we took our hats off their wood blocks and finished the edges, using an industrial sewing machine (talk about FAST!) - it took a bit of practice... Then we added a grosgrain ribbon to the inside, sized to fit our heads. Last we began the process of Embellishment! For my first hat, (black and tobacco) I had originally thought I would sew the two colors together in the middle, to create a taller hat (kind of like you see in its original incarnation) and then handsew the pleats together on one side, like a one-sided accordian. Well, this ended up being too tall for my taste. I cut off one tobacco colored band and sewed it onto the bottom edge, and then freyed both sides of what was left of the tobacco part, twisted it, and made a 'butterfly' embellishment out of it. Voila! so much more interesting, and I really like how the freyed edges look against the finished hat. For my second hat, (cloche in two tones of tan) I simply hand-sewed down an extra pleat to the side, which gave it more shape and added a little more interest.
My last and favorite hat turned out to be a bit of a challange. It become stuck to the form while starched, so when I pulled it off, it turned inside out and had horrible wrinkles all over it! NOT what I had in mind... I re-blocked it, steamed it back into shape, let it dry, and then it came off perfect! I played around with a few different trimmings, knowing I definitely wanted to use a vintage purple straw 'puff' that I've had stashed away for ages. Wayne pulled out some wide black 'horsehair' ribbon and I knew that was it! I bunched it up to one side, making a faux bow of sorts, added my puff on top and it looks splendid! It needs a little 'special something' of a button for the center, but otherwise its quite a statement piece! My husband thinks it would be the perfect hat for Professor McGonagall (of 'Harry Potter') to wear to the beach (with a Victorian bathing suit and black parasol of course!) I think I'll wear it to my parents Golden Wedding Anniversary this June, with a dress rather than a bathing suit, but I kind of like the parasol idea... What do you think???